West Kimberley Basketball Talent on Display

St Mary’s Scartisha Jimbidie rebounding the ball against Derby District High School

The 2015 Smarter than Smoking West Kimberley High School Basketball Carnival was held at the Broome Recreation and Aquatic Centre on Wednesday the 27th of May. The event was attended by over 100 students representing schools from Broome, Derby, Beagle Bay, La Grange and Fitzroy Crossing. This annual event is always exciting and a wonderful opportunity for schools to come together for a bit of healthy competition. There was great participation again this year with a total of six boy’s teams and eight girl’s teams competing in this one day event.

In the boys division it was great to see all the talent and skills on display from each team. There was tough competition throughout the day but there could only be two teams who advanced to the Grand Final. This year the final two teams were from Derby District High School and St Mary’s College. After the final whistle it was Derby District High School earning the win with a final score of 16 to 8.

In the girls division the skills displayed and the competitive play made it a great carnival for all the participants. At the end of the day the two teams who advanced to the Grand Final were the Sacred Heart School team and Broome Senior High School Team 2. The Sacred Heart girls put up a good fight and showed their great ball handling and shooting skills but in the end they could not hold off Broome High School Team 2 who came away with the win.

The Carnival was a huge success and Garnduwa staff members were really impressed with the level of skill of the players, the leadership qualities of many of the older players, as well the good sportsmanship shown by all participants. We would like to thank Rob Close from Broome Basketball Association and Rochelle Dolby from the Wirrpanda Foundation because without their help and support this day would not have been possible. Also a huge thank you goes out to all the schools that participated in the event, especially those travelling teams who had an extra early start to their day to make sure they arrived on time. One final thank you to Healthway for sponsoring the event through the Smarter than Smoking Active Community Program.